A report into the death of a man at HMP Parc has raised serious concerns about how easily prisoners could get drugs.
It comes after Lewis Petryszyn, 25 was found dead in his cell in April 2022 with illegal drugs and unprescribed medication in his system.
Staff had suspected he was selling drugs, and disciplinary hearing paperwork was slipped under his door shortly before he was found dead.
The report by the prisons ombudsman said if the paperwork had been delivered in person, there might have been an opportunity to give Mr Petryszyn medical attention.
It said the prison’s drug plan needs updating, which Parc says it has since reviewed.
The report comes after an unannounced inspection of HMP Parc in Bridgend in January revealed it was struggling to address an alarming drug problem, which was linked to a rise in deaths, after 17 inmates died in 2024.
Of the deaths G4S, which runs the prison, confirmed that eight inmates had died from natural causes, and five were believed to be related to drugs.
Despite the prison’s claims of making “significant improvements,” drugs were found 900 times that year.
While the formal cause of Mr Petryszyn’s death has not been confirmed, tests showed he had “spice” in his system – a lab-made drug that mimics the effects of cannabis and is illegal.
Prison staff had gathered intelligence suggesting he was selling psychoactive drugs to other inmates, and a “debt list” believed to show those who owed him money was found in his cell.
Mr Petryszyn was moved to another unit a week later due to concerns he posed a threat to others, and a drug test the day before his death confirmed he had psychoactive substances in his system.
The ombudsman’s report revealed that disciplinary hearing papers were slid under Mr Petryszyn’s cell door about 45 minutes before he was found dead.
This, the ombudsman said, “meant that staff missed a possible opportunity to provide emergency medical care to Mr Petryszyn sooner”.
Kimberley Bingham, the acting prisons and probation ombudsman, said there was intelligence that Mr Petryszyn was supplying psychoactive substances in prison, but there was “little evidence” to suggest that he was using them himself.
She added: “While we are satisfied that prison staff appropriately submitted intelligence reports and acted on these by conducting cell searches and arranging for Mr Petryszyn to have a drug test, we are concerned about the availability of PS (psychoactive substances) at Parc.”
However, Mr Petryszyn tested positive for an unprescribed drug, olanzapine, which he “must have obtained illicitly”.
Ms Bingham added the report raised concerns about drug access at Parc Prison and called for an updated strategy to address both illegal and misused prescribed drugs.
She also said the prison should have created a formal plan to address allegations that Mr Petryszyn was bullying other inmates, adding that staff might have had a chance to save his life if proper procedures had been followed when delivering his disciplinary documents.
“The officer who put the disciplinary hearing paperwork under Mr Petryszyn’s cell door should have handed it to him in person.
“Had he done so, he might have noticed that Mr Petryszyn was in need of medical assistance,” Ms Bingham added.
In an action plan published alongside the report, Parc Prison said it had since reviewed its drugs strategy in order to try to reduce the availability of drugs within the prison.
It also said it had provided more training to staff around supervising the use of medication.